I am new to FreeBSD, and I am using 6.1. I'd like to warn other new
users to a possible problem. FreeBSD 6.1. has LPD installed by default.
When one installs CUPS, there is another set of print utilities. For
example there is 'lpr' that belongs to the LPD subsistem and 'lpr' that
is used to emulate LPD within CUPS. LPD binaries are in /usr/bin, and
CUPS binaries are in /usr/local/bin. If the PATH is not modified, LPD
binaries will be invoked.

I spent some time to figure it out.

My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of
the LPD family in /usr/bin

DG

10-04-2007, 01:01 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

Begin <1164901213.599540.285350@l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com>
On 2006-11-30, Drazen Gemic <trenchsol@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I am new to FreeBSD, and I am using 6.1. I'd like to warn other new
> users to a possible problem. FreeBSD 6.1. has LPD installed by default.[/color]

Incidentally, lpr works Just Fine here. But then, because printing is
notoriously annoying to setup, I picked a printer that does PostScript
and thus doesn't need all sorts of filters and Stuff.

[cups binary names conflict with lpr names][color=blue]
>
> I spent some time to figure it out.
>
> My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of
> the LPD family in /usr/bin[/color]

I'm not sure I'd recommend that solution, but at any rate, if you're
serious about warning other users, you might as well do a write-up and
submit it as an article or as a section for the handbook. It'd probably
involve a bit of research but once done others don't have to repeat it.

One could ask why this was not in the handbook already. One answer is
that many people use the same approach as I do: use the default spooler
and a printer that doesn't need fancy spooling. If you look through the
archives of this group you could conclude that is because more advanced
spoolers such as CUPS (aka ``common unix pain system'') bring with them
also a very special hassle of their own, and so it comes down on what
flavour printer pain you like best.

But anyway, the point was to tell you to consider doing a writeup and
submitting it to the documentation people for possible inclusion.

--
j p d (at) d s b (dot) t u d e l f t (dot) n l .
This message was originally posted on Usenet in plain text.
Any other representation, additions, or changes do not have my
consent and may be a violation of international copyright law.

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

jpd <read_the_sig@do.not.spam.it.invalid> wrote:[color=blue]
>
> But anyway, the point was to tell you to consider doing a writeup and
> submitting it to the documentation people for possible inclusion.
>[/color]

Anyways the most famous problem with CUPS running in conjunction with
lpd, is that if you start cupsd, it will immediately overwrite
/etc/printcap.conf, so better keep a backup previously! This being said
cups works very well for me, and is becoming a required component of all
major "desktop" systems.
[color=blue]
>[/color]

--

Michel TALON

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

Drazen Gemic <trenchsol@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I am new to FreeBSD, and I am using 6.1. I'd like to warn other new
> users to a possible problem. FreeBSD 6.1. has LPD installed by default.
> When one installs CUPS, there is another set of print utilities. For
> example there is 'lpr' that belongs to the LPD subsistem and 'lpr' that
> is used to emulate LPD within CUPS. LPD binaries are in /usr/bin, and
> CUPS binaries are in /usr/local/bin. If the PATH is not modified, LPD
> binaries will be invoked.
>
> I spent some time to figure it out.
>
> My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of
> the LPD family in /usr/bin[/color]

They'll be replaced when you do a buildworld/installworld. You can set
NO_LPR in /etc/make.conf to prevent them from being rebuilt.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

> > My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of[color=blue][color=green]
> > the LPD family in /usr/binI'm not sure I'd recommend that solution, but at any rate, if you're[/color]
> serious about warning other users, you might as well do a write-up and
> submit it as an article or as a section for the handbook. It'd probably
> involve a bit of research but once done others don't have to repeat it.
>[/color]

I am too fresh in FreeBSD to write handbook chapters for others. I am
using it just 7-8 days, and I am moving things from Linux one by one,
making sure I have everything working. I wouldn't like to write
something
stupid.

And I forgot, if one uses cupsd, LPD should be stopped and disabled.
There is a little reason for running two printing daemons in parallel.
[color=blue]
> One could ask why this was not in the handbook already. One answer is
> that many people use the same approach as I do: use the default spooler
> and a printer that doesn't need fancy spooling. If you look through the
> archives of this group you could conclude that is because more advanced
> spoolers such as CUPS (aka ``common unix pain system'') bring with them
> also a very special hassle of their own, and so it comes down on what
> flavour printer pain you like best.[/color]

I don't know about FreeBSD, but when I was on Linux, some complicated
graphics has not printed well
with LPD, while it printed correctly with CUPS. Maybe the problem does
not exist on FreeBSD.....
The reason I didn't remove LPD is that I wan't to test both of them.

I know that LPD was invented on BSD systems in the ancient times, while
CUPS is the imitation of System V printing.

DG

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

On 30 Nov 2006 16:06:29 GMT, jpd <read_the_sig@do.not.spam.it.invalid> wrote:[color=blue]
> Begin <1164901213.599540.285350@l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com>
> On 2006-11-30, Drazen Gemic <trenchsol@yahoo.com> wrote:
> [cups binary names conflict with lpr names][color=green]
>>
>> I spent some time to figure it out.
>>
>> My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of
>> the LPD family in /usr/bin[/color]
>
> [...]
> But anyway, the point was to tell you to consider doing a
> writeup and submitting it to the documentation people for
> possible inclusion.[/color]

Thanks :-)

Giorgos,
for the FreeBSD doc team

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

On 30 Nov 2006 17:19:52 -0800, "Drazen Gemic" <trenchsol@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
>> My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and
>> others of the LPD family in /usr/bin. I'm not sure I'd
>> recommend that solution, but at any rate, if you're serious
>> about warning other users, you might as well do a write-up and
>> submit it as an article or as a section for the handbook. It'd
>> probably involve a bit of research but once done others don't
>> have to repeat it.[/color]
>
> I am too fresh in FreeBSD to write handbook chapters for
> others. I am using it just 7-8 days, and I am moving things
> from Linux one by one, making sure I have everything working. I
> wouldn't like to write something stupid.[/color]

Please, don't let that stop you from submitting your suggestions
to our documentation team. A common misconception about the
documentation is that you have to be an expert to write it. This
is not always true. In fact, a lot of time users who are already
experienced are *not* the best people to work on improvements to
the documentation, *exactly* because they are experts and they
cannot easily enter what I calll the "newbie mindset".

New users, on the other hand, know _exactly_ what they wanted but
could not find in the Handbook. They also know exactly what was
missing, incomplete, or even blatantly wrong with the current
documentation. That's why new users are also valuable assets to
the Project in general, as a resource for reviewers who cna help
us improve our documentation for people who are newcomers to
FreeBSD.

If you go through the printing chapter of the Handbook, and you
find that as a new FreeBSD user you would find something useful,
if it was listed there, then, by all means, consider posting your
suggestions either through the send-pr(1) utility (as a feature
request for our documentation) or by plain email to the
freebsd-doc mailing list.

Don't worry too much about getting the documentation right(TM) in
your very first attempt to write something, or even about
formatting it in SGML (which is our preferred format for
official, committed stuff). The documentation team can help you
beat the initial drafts into shape, and we can take care of
converting plain text to the official, SGML formatted style.
[color=blue]
> And I forgot, if one uses cupsd, LPD should be stopped and
> disabled. There is a little reason for running two printing
> daemons in parallel.[/color]

If you are not keeping notes about all these little details, now
is a good time to start. Then, you are welcome to post your
findings to freebsd-doc. I will be immensely pleased to see you
writing something up and posting it to the list. Feel free, when
you post your write up to Cc: me too. I promise to at least
review what you found and help you make something that can fit
well with the existing Handbook chapter about printing.

Welcome to FreeBSD,

- Giorgos

10-04-2007, 01:02 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

[color=blue]
> Welcome to FreeBSD,[/color]

Thanks for support. I am keeping in mind everything I have done so far,
for a simple reason
that I need to do it all over again on my notebook :-). Yesterday (or
maybe early this morning)
I have discovered how to make my CD/DVD burner usefull. Most of the
sources on the Internet are outdated, since
there is now an atapicam module for ATAPI burners ready to be loaded as
a kernel module.
There is no need for a new kernel. I guess there will be more of that.
I'll try to put it all down
the best I can.

Please remove the duplicated 'g' from 'orgg' to reply by email,
or send me any suggestions, comments or just feature requests you
have for our documentation.

I should stop posting when in a hurry *and* manually modifying the
from-address :-)

Cheers,
Giorgos

10-04-2007, 01:03 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:06:29 +0000, jpd wrote:
..[color=blue][color=green]
>>
>> My solution was to remove execute permission from 'lpr' and others of
>> the LPD family in /usr/bin[/color]
>
> I'm not sure I'd recommend that solution, but at any rate, if you're
> serious about warning other users, you might as well do a write-up and
> submit it as an article or as a section for the handbook. It'd probably
> involve a bit of research but once done others don't have to repeat it.
>
> One could ask why this was not in the handbook already. One answer is
> that many people use the same approach as I do: use the default spooler
> and a printer that doesn't need fancy spooling.[/color]

Considering the large number of people using CUPS, there should be a
section on configuring it in the Handbook to make the Handbook more
self-contained.

--
Robert T. Kopp
[url]http://analytic.tripod.com/[/url]

10-04-2007, 01:04 AM

unix

Re: printing confusion

Robert Kopp <koppr@hevanet.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:06:29 +0000, jpd wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> One could ask why this was not in the handbook already. One answer is
>> that many people use the same approach as I do: use the default spooler
>> and a printer that doesn't need fancy spooling.[/color]
>
> Considering the large number of people using CUPS, there should be a
> section on configuring it in the Handbook to make the Handbook more
> self-contained.[/color]

CUPS is mentioned in the "Alternatives To The Standard Spooler" section.
There's no step-by-step.

I've seen FreeBSD/CUPS setup information on the web, but my eyes glazed
with horror before I could tell if it was well-written or not.